jesus in contrast

As I was catching up on some reading yesterday I found the typical Rick Warren hate/criticism stuff. The most recent triggers being his discussion with Melissa Etheridge and his accepting the invitation to pray for Barack Obama. As always, I'll preface this with the obligatory "I am not a Purpose Driven Fan".

To start with, most of the assaults were simply ignorant or angry - these I summarily dismiss. Others were thoughtful but sounded like, "if I were Warren, here's what I would have done." These caused me to think what I would do in Warren's position. Then it occurred to me that while it is good to ask ourselves what we might do in these situations, I wonder why we do that in regard to the likes of Warren rather than Jesus. I guess because we can conclude that we can be right in contrast to the Warren but not right when we come up different than Jesus. It seems to me that honest introspection regarding life's situations can be good but the bulk of the Warren (and others) analysis flows from a very wrong heart.

Coincidentally, I also read Luke 15 yesterday. It took much longer than I expected to cover the first three verses (Lk 15.1-3). As I read I was struck with Jesus' reply - a parable. Here is a crowd in need. All of these sinners gathered around and he tells some kind of story about a runaway son ... or is it the loving father? My thoughts were that He should have shared the message of the cross. He should confront their sin. He should explain who He was and their need for him. Yep - that's what I would have done.

Then I thought, no, that's not right, he needs to confront those religious leaders. Where do they get off being critical of Him?

And as I pondered this I had to remember this was Jesus and that He was right. I realized that what He said to whom He said it at the time He said it in the way that He said it was perfect. This caused me to look deeper into the parable. It is wonderful. Jesus is clearly not on the side of the sinners but He more clearly not on the side of the false leaders. In this parable He confronts both groups but is most clear in regard to the the elder brother who represents those that claim to follow the rules yet fail in love and relationship.

Notice that the sinners were attracted to Him while the religious were offended. This is a common theme (Luke 7& 19, John 3-4, cf Mt 21.31). Do we condone the sinner? Absolutely not, these are in desperate need. But we must confront the religious and I have to say that much of what I read against the likes of Warren is religion speaking. Rick Warren is not Jesus but neither are those critical of him. Would I do things different than Warren, yes? But then God hasn't chosen to place me in the position of Warren - and I'm sure there's a reason for that. And quite possibly because I would do things different than Warren.

So the bigger question is if I'm doing what I should be doing where God has placed me? Likely not but hopefully some. One thing I'm pretty sure of is that what He isn't calling a lot of people to do is to be critical of Warren and others.